Oh man, this is terrible.Β Just months before launch of the Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter's satellite, they discovered that some of the MOSFETS in the spacecraft might get fried by the Jovian radiation.Β 1500 MOSFETS.Β Ouch.Β Details here:Β
"Three years earlier, Lovelock had listened on his homemade shortwave radio in Finchley to the 'beep, beep, beep' transmission of the USSRβs Sputnik, the first satellite that humanity had put into orbit. Now he was playing with the superΒ powers."
I like all the CuriousMarc videos, but I especially liked this one. Marc and company visited some of the very early launch sites and bunkers at Cape Canaveral.Β If you thought Apollo tech was crude, take a look back at what they used in Mercury and Gemini.Β Wow.Β Β
I spotted two ham radio receivers.Β Β In the first bunker at 10 minutes 28 seconds we see an old National HRO Sixty with the classic HRO dial, much like the one given to me by Armand WA1UQO. (Thanks again Armand!) Note how they attribute one of the early launch disasaters to two diodes in the power supply that shorted due to launch vibration.Β I hate it when that happens.Β Β
In the second bunker we see a Hammarlund HQ-140 at 19 minutes 7 seconds.Β This was apparently being used as a Frequency Standard (or maybe a time standard?) perhaps receiving WWV at 10 MHz.Β I note that the frequency knob shows it set for the AM broadcast band...Β
He was, of course, right about the impact of satellites, but he was the inventor of the geo-stationary concept.Β I wonder how he would react to the low-earth orbit Starlink system we are now using.Β
He coments about how contact with extraterrestrial civilizations could come at any time, but notes that false alarms are common -- this made me think of recent explanations of the famous "Wow!" signal.Β
His "Communicate don't Commute" idea seems to foreshadow the "remote work" viaΒ Zoom that kicked in during the pandemic.Β Β
And he talks about Dick Tracy-like wrist radios.Β I sort of have one now (thanks to Elisa), in the form of my Apple Watch.Β But it may be that putting a camera in there would be a bit too much...Β
David Cowhig (aka WA1LBP,Β aka Gao Da Wei) was Hambassdor for 73 Magazine on Okinawa when I held a similar "position" on the island of Hispaniola.Β David is a real Asia hand, and is fluent in both Mandarin and Japanese.Β Β He is uiniquely sitated to provide info on ham radio in China.Β In a recent post he provides this info, and describes how we may soon be hearing from ham Taikonauts in space:Β Β
I really like Marc's (AL6JV) videos. It is great fun and very educational to watch him and his team troubleshoot some of the old gear they work on.Β There is also a lot of humor.Β
In this video Marc delves into the circuitry of the Phase-Locked Loop.Β I didn't know that the PLL circuitry has its origins in the space program.Β NASA needed a circuit that would permit very narrow band reception of a signal that was undergoing the kind of Doppler shift that spacecraft produce.Β Β Viola! Enter the PLL.Β Far beyond Apollo, PLL circuits started to show up in ordinary radio gear.Β The General Electric (and JC Penny!) CB transceivers that we rescued from 11 meter infamy used PLL as the frequency determining circuit.Β
Marc gives a really good explanation of how the PLL circuit works.Β Thanks Marc.Β
However, Marc gives an incorrect pronuniation of "kludge" (it should sound like fudge).Β But he is a computer guy and is originally from France, so all is forgiven.Β He also redeems himself by making fun of the inaccuracies that appear in what he calls "data shites."Β
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